Yep. now that power generation (especially if new classes of nuclear power plants come to fruition) seems likely to be solved, we need to turn our attention to other major sources of CO2, like agriculture and industry (construction: concrete is a huge source of CO2). This is where we need to apply the same upfront government policy, investment and subsidies, so that in a decade we may reap similar rewards.

I saw your comment @jpop about the need to tackle concrete pollution and it reminded me of this article. Wood buildings up to 14 stories have been built and a 34 story building is scheduled to be completed by 2023.

Japan appears to be in the lead with this effort, They passed legislation almost ten years ago that requires all government buildings up to three stories to be constructed with wood. (Source)

Companies make hyped claims all the time, but Pat Brown, the CEO, is incredible. He was a renowned professor of microbiology at Stanford who left all the comforts of that position to deal with venture capitalists and the stress of a startup. He makes my list of the people I admire most. His background is well worth the read:

I'm out of date, but in my geophysicist days flaring of natural gas was common wherever I traveled. It didn't fetch enough monies to be worth trying to transport and sell it, so they would just light a match to the well and let it burn.

You really can't get a feeling for the scale of it without driving through the fields. The thing is, I never knew what percent was being burned and what percent was just gushing into the atmosphere without being visible. You couldn't smell it.

I don't know how you could ever figure out how much it was in all the remote gas fields in the world.

That's interesting. I'm wondering how sustainable it is, though. he amount of concrete we use for building is enormous. But as with most of climate change problems, every bit helps, so more wood building should certainly be welcome in the mix.

I must say I'm looking forward to having my first Impossible Burger. :-) With Chinese middle class rising (where having more than a few meat courses per week was until recently seen as a luxury), meat looks to be very important component, progress there will have tremendous impact.

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